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  • Music Thing: Akai's portable MPC-500

    by 
    Tom Whitwell
    Tom Whitwell
    09.22.2006

    Sometimes, vapourware turns out to be real. There have been rumors, complete with stupid photoshop images, that a portable, pocket-sized sampler/drum machine called the MPC-500 was about to be launched by Akai for at least two years. Last week, after a few leaked photos appeared, it was finally announced: a little black box running on 6 AA batteries, with 12 pads, 16mb of memory and a two-line LCD display beamed straight out of a 1985 pocket calculator. Is it the greatest piece of pocketable audio kit since the Walkman iPod, or just an overpriced toy for DJ wannabes? Keep reading for the full scoop...